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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: race · bark · capital · pitcher · press · wax · board · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. wax — to grow
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. race — a contest
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. press — to push
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — money
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cold — not warm
  13. board — to get on
  14. race — humankind
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. press — newspapers
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. race — the arms race
  19. bark — to shout
  20. press — a publisher
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. board — a committee
  24. capital — a city

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com